Newsletter

New website for tips on problems at Georgia's youth detention centers

ATLANTA -- The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice has announced the creation of a website -- http://www.djj.state.ga.us -- where people can report suspicious activities at the state’s youth detention centers and court-services offices.

Anonymous tips are accepted, but the agency promises that the names of sources will be kept confidential.

"This new online TIP Form is available to all DJJ employees and to the public," said Juvenile Justice Commissioner L. Gale Buckner. "Now, if they see something, they can also say something to help safeguard this workplace, while protecting their identity, too."

Buckner shook up the office organizational structure last month and is making surprise inspections of facilities and court-services offices. She’s also revising policies.

Agency spokesman Jim Shuler said the reforms aren’t directly related to problems at the department’s detention center in Augusta that came to a head as Buckner assumed her post last fall. Eleven employees, including the director, were fired, quit or demoted following the investigation of a teen who died at the facility. The investigation turned up sexual misconduct, physical abuse and help smuggling contraband by guards.

Inspections that followed at 26 other facilities revealed similar violations across the state.